


Together

by Kaoru_chibimaster



Series: Confession [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Humor, In Universe, KH3 spoilers, M/M, kind of angsty at the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 16:12:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17749166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster
Summary: "Riku?'"Hmm?""...I'm scared."





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> If you didn't read the tags then I'll mention it here: **endgame KH3 spoilers ahead**.
> 
> Funnily enough I started writing this before I had beaten the game, but didn't finish it until after.
> 
> Let's just say the secret ending made me feel a bit better after I wrote the second half of this.

The stars out really were beautiful.

Or…maybe they always had been, and Sora had just never appreciated them. He did usually tend to rush through his visits to Yen Sid. Tonight was out of the norm, in fact. Typically, Sora would get his rest on the gummi ship as he, Donald and Goofy prepared for their next adventure through whatever world they came across. This time they were all told to take it easy.

And take it easy they did.

Everyone got their moments alone and time to themselves over with. Ven and Aqua had chosen to stay at the tower the whole time. Lea (or was it Axel? Kairi kept calling him Axel) mumbled something about business in Twilight Town. Sora, of course, went back to the islands for a bit, with Riku and Kairi in tow. They stayed on the play island, just as they had last time. No one had the heart to go home to their parents. Not yet. Not with what was coming.

He’d spent some quiet time with both of them, mentally preparing himself for what was hopefully, and frighteningly, going to be the final confrontation with Xehanort. It was daunting, to say the least. He wanted to smile his way through it like he did every fight he got into, but lately he’d found that…

He wasn’t coming out of these fights feeling very victorious. Sure, every one of his journeys had been filled with ups and downs, but the stakes had never been so high. He never realized what real danger the people around him were in. It never occurred to him that he should leave someone who might want to be left alone be, because pushing them could make them a detriment to themselves and to others. It never occurred to him that maybe the people they hold closest could turn out to be their greatest threat. It never occurred to him that he might have to watch his friends d—well, they came back out of it only a little worse for wear, but nothing quite matched the shock to his entire body when he witnessed the light of life leaving someone’s eyes. It wasn’t like seeing someone get turned into a heartless. All that was left in the wake of someone losing their heart was a mindless monster, and it was Sora’s job to set that wandering heart free again. Eventually, that person could be saved, especially if they had created a nobody. But not even he could save someone who’d been simply taken from this world. No heart and body separation. Nothing.

It kinda terrified him, when he thought about it. In a battle with a man who knew as much about the heart as Sora and then some, what could he expect Xehanort to use against them? What lengths would he go to to break them apart?

“You’re being unusually serious.”

Blinking out of his thoughts, Sora turned towards the sound of Riku’s voice, raising an eyebrow as his best friend sat down next to him. They were both on a balcony, one that Sora could’ve sworn he’d never seen before until he suddenly needed somewhere to think alone, overlooking the tiny patch of land leading up to the entrance. Having gone back to Yen Sid’s tower to rest, after being told that sleeping on the gummi ship was not ‘taking it easy’, everyone had decided to spend their last few moments before bed time having fun and getting to know one another. Any other day, Sora would have been eager to join in, but today… Today felt a little too heavy, with thoughts of tomorrow too overwhelming, and he needed to take time for himself to just _think_.

Of course, he should’ve known he wouldn’t get away with that for long.

Leaning back, Sora let out a long sigh and tilted his head back to watch the stars again. He wasn’t sure he could look at Riku when he admitted this, not used to talking about his own insecurities, but he knew Riku would see through him in half a second if he tried to lie his way out of it. No point in making things awkward at this stage.

“Riku?”

“Hmm?”

Out of his periphery, Sora could see that Riku had adopted the same relaxed posture with his own eyes on the night sky. Trying to make things easier for Sora to get off his chest, no doubt. It helped.

“…I’m scared.”

What didn’t help was the short pause during which Riku clearly didn’t know how to respond. Was it so weird for Sora to admit that? Should he have?

“About tomorrow?” Finally came a reply after an awkwardly long beat of silence.

“What else?”

Riku was stalling. Which, admittedly, just made Sora feel worse. He didn’t remember ever having come across a problem Riku didn’t have an answer to. It may not have always been the best answer—sometimes it wasn’t even the right answer—but it was always there. He knew full well Sora was scared about the day he and the others were simultaneously anticipating and dreading. Who wouldn’t be? After a decade or so of Xehanort’s darkness ruining lives and destroying worlds, it was less than pleasant to think about facing him.

And Sora wasn’t just scared for himself.

“You really think we’re all gonna be okay? Facing Master Xehanort, I mean.”

“What makes you think we won’t be?” Riku asked, but he didn’t look at Sora as he did so. He faced forward, his shoulders slumped and a determinedly blank expression on his face.

“Maybe the fact that Aqua, Ven and Terra all faced him before and lost so badly that they suffered for twelve years for it?”

It was a _bleak_ outlook, especially for Sora, as he was usually determined to see the positive in every situation, but he couldn’t help but let such things cloud his thoughts. The past few weeks had woken him up to an ice-cold bucketful of realism. Things weren’t as cut and dry as the struggle between light and darkness anymore. He wasn’t entirely sure it always had been. Riku was living proof that it wasn’t, really. Where two years ago, Sora would’ve allowed his black and white mindset to believe that Riku mingling with darkness was inherently a bad thing, he could see now that it had its uses in battle when wielded properly. And it was strong. Terrifyingly so.

Xehanort had plenty of it at his fingertips.

“ _Riku_ …” Sora stressed. His best friend still hadn’t answered him. He seemed to be almost lost in thought.

Finally, he sighed.

“It’s okay to be scared, Sora.” He finally turned towards Sora then, an emotion in his eyes that reflected all too well what he was feeling. “I am too, after all.”

“So you don’t think we’ll be okay—”

“I didn’t say that. I think…” Another sigh, this time exasperated. “I don’t think we’ll come out of tomorrow without facing consequences. The stakes are too high, and this’ll be our most dangerous fight yet. All those other Xehanorts we’ve fought before were just imitations: pieces of the whole, or displaced in time. This is the real deal, and there’re _thirteen of him_. Of course I’m scared. We’d both be crazy not to be.”

That wasn’t very reassuring. And yet…

“They were still powerful. And we still beat them, even at the level we were at.”

“Why’re you cheering me up?” Riku snorted. “Aren’t you the one asking if we’ll be okay?”

Ever the optimist, people always told him. Mostly because Sora couldn’t stand to watch his friends lose hope. Even if it meant he had to push his own feelings down.

“You should stop doing that, you know. Trying to cheer people up all the time. Learn to focus on you sometimes.”

And there it was. Riku saw right through him again, as usual. Though, Sora supposed, he did start it by admitting it…for once. He tried so often to prove he could handle whatever was thrown his way, be it Pete and Maleficent mocking him for losing his powers, or Donald ribbing him for still needing work, or the constant disappointment he was bringing not only to Master Yen Sid, but himself as well, as he continued to fail at learning the power of waking. Of course, that last one seemed to rectify itself in the nick of time, but what did that matter? Sora didn’t even know how he did it. If it wasn’t for Ven, he wouldn’t have even known if he could. Even when he fought with all his heart, it took the strength of another to finally awaken in him something so necessary.

Sheesh, he really was moping. Or, ‘being unusually serious’ as Riku so nicely put it.

“I can’t focus on me if other people need me,” Sora huffed, leaning forward so that he could no longer see Riku in his periphery, as if that would somehow hide him from him. Riku didn’t let that slide for a second, mirroring Sora’s position and even scooting closer.

“You can’t help other people if you neglect yourself.”

Sora winced at that. He didn’t want to think about how true it was.

“You know…” Riku continued. “I’m glad you told me. I’m not glad that you’re scared, of course, but I also can’t blame you. It’s kinda weird, hearing you admit it though. You always used to stomp your feet and pick a fight when you were upset. Don’t think I’ve ever seen you just sit down and talk about it.”

Or _try_ to talk about it. Sora wasn’t sure he accomplished much past the first admittance that he was scared. He was pretty uncomfortable with just having said that already.

“Sora. _It’s okay to be scared_ ,” Riku repeated, leaning towards Sora as he emphasized his words, making sure Sora could see and hear him clearly.

“What’re we gonna do if…” Images of Eugene lying on the floor as Rapunzel cried over him flashed through his mind. Remnants of the ache in his chest when he watched as Will was stabbed, heard Elizabeth cry out his name, tightened like a band around his ribs. “…if people get hurt?”

“We stand together. What’s the phrase you and Donald and Goofy use? All for one and one for all?”

“But that doesn’t—!”

“It doesn’t guarantee no one will get hurt, I know. Nothing ever will. But I think it makes tomorrow a little less scary knowing you and the others will have my back.”

That…well, it was a nice sentiment. But it didn’t assuage Sora’s fears. There was just a feeling in his gut, like everything could go wrong. It wasn’t the vice-like apprehension of going up against Ansem with so little experience. It wasn’t the muddy feeling of being trapped in another dimension that danced in the back of his mind when he and Riku fought Xemnas. It wasn’t even the despair that gripped him as he fell into the black abyss of the deepest sleep. There was always an underlying sense of hope in every one of these battles. The knowledge that he would have Donald and Goofy at his side. The knowledge that, even stuck in the realm of darkness, he had Riku again. The sound of Riku’s voice, even as Xemnas and Xigbar played their little mind games.

That wasn’t there this time. That hope had slowly but surely started to dissipate as the night went on, even in spite of the relatively large triumphs of saving Aqua and waking Ven. And it started when…well…

“What’s got you thinking like this anyway?” Riku asked, having likely noticed what Sora had. He too knew Sora never let the negative of a situation get him down. Not like this.

“I, um.” He wasn’t sure how to bring this up when it could be taken the wrong way. He knew the context this sort of thing was normally used in. But it wasn’t like that. “I shared a paopu fruit with Kairi earlier.”

Riku’s expression at that was…oddly expressionless. As if he didn’t have a response at first. Then, even stranger, came a small quirk of his lips that in no way met his eyes.

“Yeah, I noticed. So, you two are, uh…” Riku made a vague gesture with his hand that, had Sora not been expecting the implication behind it, would’ve confused him to no end. As it was, he knew exactly what Riku meant. And it was exactly what Sora had _not_ meant.

“No.”

A quirked silver eyebrow was response enough to that.

“I’m not in—that’s not why I did it. I was a little off put when she offered, actually, because I wasn’t sure if that was what she was looking for. But, it’s exactly as it is.”

An unbreakable connection. Destinies intertwined.

“I have to make sure she’ll be safe,” Sora went on. “I don’t know, but it’s like I got this feeling. Like I was gonna start losing people, you know?”

Riku still had an eyebrow raised, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Kairi’s barely trained up, and, you know, she’s been our best friend for years. I can’t let something happen to her, not in a fight like whatever tomorrow’s gonna be. If her destiny is intertwined with mine, maybe I can keep any harm from coming to her.”

“You realize that could go both ways, right?”

“Maybe, but I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t go the wrong way. Besides, it worked with you. It may have taken me a while to find you again, but I did, didn’t I? And you found me.”

Riku let out a short laugh at that.

“Doesn’t really count if _we_ never shared a paopu fruit.”

This time, Sora was the one shooting Riku a quizzical expression. He wasn’t sure why Riku thought they hadn’t when they so clearly… Oh. But maybe he thought that didn’t count? Because Sora had tossed it away instead of handing it back? Apparently, the act of sharing only had to go one way for it to work. Though, Sora did hope to rectify that the next time they were on the islands. It didn’t feel right to receive and not give in return.

“Don’t you remember? Two days before the islands fell, you chucked one at me.”

“That doesn’t count—”

“It does so count!” Sora laughed, mostly at the flustered look on Riku’s face.

It took him a moment to realize that he was indeed laughing. Somehow, once again, Riku was able to bring out the joy in him. Even if it was just to tease him over how red his cheeks had turned.

“Aw, are you blushing over sharing a paopu with little ol’ me?” Sora chuckled.

“Shut up, I didn’t chuck one at you. And I’m not blushing.”

He was, in fact, blushing harder.

“It’s either that, or you caught a fever.”

Sora reached out, grinning, to rest the back of his hand against Riku’s forehead. He didn’t quite make it. Riku was quick to grab his wrist, yanking it with just enough strength to send Sora off balance. There weren’t any rails on that balcony. Not that Sora hadn’t fallen from taller heights, but he wasn’t quite in the mood to walk back up all those steps. Shoving at Riku with his free hand, he pulled his wrist back.

“Alright, Grumpy, no need to chuck _me_ next,” he snorted, laughing again when Riku shoved him back.

“Keep that up and I just might,” Riku said, and Sora found himself puzzling over that a bit.

Keep what up?

“What, am I not allowed to tease you?”

“Not about—!” Clicking his tongue, Riku turned away so that Sora couldn’t see his face. “Not about that.”

Oh…?

“Riku?”

Sora watched as Riku’s shoulders rose and fell with a heavy breath. They almost seemed to tremble with the effort, like he’d caught some sort of chill and was trying hard not to shiver. He could even hear it somewhat in Riku’s voice, even as he had to lean closer to hear the quiet words.

“You know, I told Kairi I needed a moment alone because I was trying to work through some things. But…”

“But…?”

“I also wanted to give you guys that time. ‘Cause I thought…”

What, that he and Kairi needed to work through some things? He couldn’t imagine what. He’d already made it clear that he wasn’t interested in the romantic aspect of intertwining destinies. He only wanted to make sure that he could keep the people he loved safe.

Though, he supposed, Riku didn’t exactly know that until right there and then. But why this would cause him to close up, Sora couldn’t quite fathom. He wasn’t sure what the angle was here.

“What did you think?”

“That you two would make the most of it.”

Sora blinked in confusion, tilting his head to the side.

“Isn’t that what we were doing—”

“Not that way,” Riku interrupted. “I mean…c’mon. You know what I mean.”

Sora did not, in fact, know what Riku meant. And it must’ve caused some frustration, judging by the annoyed side-glance Riku shot him.

“Don’t make me spell it out.”

“What? You’re acting like I proposed to her or something!” Sora blurted out irately, throwing his hands in the air.

“Yeah, so imagine my surprise when you just told me that’s not what you two were doing.”

“And?” Where was Riku even going with this? “Why does it matter?”

“Because I wanted it to be me!”

Oh.

Ohhhh.

Well. _Finally_.

“Tomorrow’s fight isn’t the only reason _I’m_ scared. The idea of losing you, in _any_ kind of way, gets under my skin,” Riku admitted. He still faced away from Sora, his head tilted down. It was strange, quite frankly, seeing Riku lose his confidence like that. Only to admit something Sora was pretty sure he’d figured out during their Mark of Mastery.

Matters of the heart were his specialty after all. And Riku wasn’t as good at hiding it as he thought he was. Hence why Sora was quite glad he had no interest in Kairi _that way._

He hadn’t figured it’d affect Riku this much. Nor did he think it would be brought up this way. He’d imagined so many different ways he might break the ice first, most ideas taking place after Xehanort was dealt with and everyone was safe and sound, but he’d never figured a conversation about their innermost fears could lead to, well, that.

“Hey, you know… I don’t like to admit that I’m feeling scared. I don’t even like admitting that I don’t like to admit that.”

Riku, probably not appreciating the abrupt change in topic, turned to face Sora again with a particularly unimpressed look on his face.

“Sora…”

“No, let me finish. I don’t like to, because you’re right. I like being the one who cheers people up. I don’t wanna think about the bad things. They just drag me down.”

“Sora—”

“Shh! I don’t want to admit I’m scared, but I am. Everything that’s happened, and that’s gonna happen: Ansem, and Xemnas, and Xehanort. Aqua, and Ven, and Terra. Roxas. It’s all so overwhelming and we’ve barely had time to even prepare ourselves. We could lose everything.”

“Where are you going with th—”

“Shush, I’m getting there! I’m sure everyone feels the same, even if it’s for different reasons. What if we never find Terra? What if we lose the battle? What if something happens to you or Kairi? What if something happens to me? So, I might not like it, but I’m glad that I told you I’m scared. And I’m glad that you told me you’re scared. Because tomorrow could be too late to say these things.”

Riku was silent this time, still impatiently waiting for Sora to make his point. And, finally, Sora was ready to come out and say it.

“I keep thinking ‘after the battle’, like it’s a surefire that we’re gonna win and everything will be alright.” And there was no guarantee of that. Not anymore. “But it’s not. I’m gonna hope and believe that it will be, but I _don’t know_. So, Riku? Thank you.”

“…For?”

“Opening up to me. And letting me open up to you. We might not get that chance tomorrow.”

The look on Riku’s face was difficult to discern at first, but eventually another sad, tiny smile formed on his lips and he leaned back on his hands again, shrugging one shoulder.

“’Course.”

And Sora decided he’d throw the bone this time, now that everything else was out in the open.

“I like you too, by the way. You don’t have to be jealous of Kairi.”

The way Riku sputtered and fell backward was worth it.

“What—? Why would you—wait, _what_?!”

Riku—cool, calm, collected Riku—turned as red as a ripe apple as he picked himself off of the balcony, eyes nearly popping out from being so wide, and mouth gaping like a fish.

Sora couldn’t quite help laughing at it.

“Hey, you did just say you wanted it to be you I shared that paopu with!” Sora chuckled, leaning over into Riku’s space so that he couldn’t shy away any further. Not without falling off the balcony.

“Well, I meant—! I didn’t think you would take me seriously! You just went off on this whole other tangent!”

“It’s what we were talking about in the first place!”

“Keep up with the subject changes, doofus!”

Sora couldn’t be upset at the minor insult. Not when Riku’s cheeks still had a flush of pink to them, and the angry crease between his brows and set of his lips only came across as an endearingly severe pout. Sora wanted to smooth the wrinkle away with his thumb and push the corners of Riku’s mouth up. He wanted Riku to smile too. They both needed that tonight.

The serious talk was done and over with, and the squeezing around his chest was loosened with it. The weight on his shoulders lifted. Sora wasn’t used to such things, didn’t know if he said all that needed to be said, but he was glad to be more in his element now. It didn’t feel so bad, trying to make someone smile, when he got the ickier feelings out of the way.

Besides, those were the sorts of feelings Riku had been more intimate with in the past. He needed every reason to cheer up nowadays. Recently, Sora noticed, it had been much easier to do exactly that.

Maybe that was when Sora realized he reciprocated Riku’s feelings. He couldn’t say for certain, though. Riku seemed to want to know, at least.

“How long have you…you know, liked me back? It never seemed like you did before,” Riku asked, returning to his laidback position, leaning against his hands with his legs dangling over the edge of the stone surface. He didn’t seem to mind that Sora was still in his personal space.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. I can’t really pinpoint a moment. It’s like…at first everything’s a competition with you, even if it meant I had to fight against you for real, but after a while I just wanted you safe. I wanted you to see me as an equal. And I wanted you to look at me all the time; just like how I looked at you.” Sora shrugged listlessly, his body relaxed of its tension. He thought he might be nervous to talk about this sort of thing, in the same way he used to be embarrassed when people teased him about Kairi. It never felt quite right when he thought about Kairi like that, though. It never felt as natural as it did with Riku.

“I don’t know if it started during the exam, or before, or even after. But I know that I like you. And I think I’ve realized for a while that you like me too.”

Because after all those months looking at Riku, he did indeed realize that Riku looked at him the same way. If not more so.

Sora thought about how Riku constantly reached out to him during the exam. How he protected him, fought for him, and always, _always_ had his back. How he called out Sora’s name, when he needed him most.

Sora couldn’t get the fond look Riku had given him when they met up again in the Dark Realm out of his mind. He couldn’t forget the spark of renewed hope in his eyes. He couldn’t forget that smile. Sora wanted so badly to protect that smile. He wanted to see it again and again.

Even the bashful grin Riku was trying so desperately to hide as he turned his face away and shoved at Sora again was more than enough.

“I can’t believe _you_ actually realized someone likes you,” Riku huffed, though it was with amusement.

“Hey, I’m not blind! I know what love looks like, in all its forms!” Sora argued. Riku’s next point stopped him short though.

“Did you know Kairi likes you that way?”

“Well…” Not really. He felt stupid when he thought about it, because it wasn’t as if she was very subtle, but he never perceived anything she said or did as anything other than being close friends with him. “No. I told you, I didn’t know what exactly she was looking for when she shared the paopu with me.”

“Because…” Riku let out a long sigh as he turned to face Sora again. “She wasn’t looking for…whatever it is you think she might’ve been. I'll bet anything Kairi already knew that you didn’t like her back that way. She's intuitive like that. I mean, she already knew that I…”

That he liked Sora “like that”.

It was hard not to feel a little guilty. But it wasn’t as if Sora could force himself to feel the same for her. Sometimes, he wanted to because everyone seemed to expect it of him. And he was tired of not living up to everyone’s expectations. But this? He couldn’t even fathom living up to this. No, he knew who he liked.

And Sora truly did love Kairi, so much so that he was willing to do anything to make sure she was safe. But it wasn’t the same way he loved Riku.

Maybe it didn’t have to be.

“Do you think she knows that I…?” Sora trailed off when it finally registered to him what sort of love he felt for Riku.

“She probably does. But maybe you should talk with her later. Clear the air so your feelings aren’t left ambiguous.”

Nodding resolutely, he promised to himself that he would. Later, though. Right now was about Sora and Riku.

He turned to face his best friend directly, crossing his legs so that they brushed against Riku’s thigh. Despite the cool air, he could feel the warmth radiating off of Riku’s skin, even through his clothes. It felt like home.

“You know,” Sora started, slouching a bit so that he was once again pressed into Riku’s personal bubble. It sent another flush across Riku’s cheeks, but he didn’t shy away. “I didn’t really expect this to turn out this way.”

“‘This’?” Riku asked, quirking his eyebrow yet again.

“You know. Confessing. I kinda thought it’d be all romantic and then we’d make out in the sunset or something.”

Riku snorted at that and Sora couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.

“Since when have either of us ever had a romantic bone in our bodies?”

Shrugging again, Sora hummed and placed both his hands behind his head.

“I don’t know, man. I mean, c’mon. We could’ve at least pulled off a romantic kiss or something.”

“Are you sure you’re Sora? Did you really say that with a straight face?”

Not…quite. It was an abstract concept when simply spoken about in casual conversation; a situation Sora had never really seen himself in. Now that it was out in the open like that though…the mental image of him kissing Riku practically set his skin on fire. He was sure his ears were turning red.

“Wait, nevermind.” Riku’s trademark smirk made its presence known for the first time in a long while. “You look like a tomato.”

“I do not! What, you don’t want to kiss me? It’s not like my breath stinks or anything!” Sora argued. He _had_ just gotten ready for bed before he’d stepped out, after all. Brushed his teeth and everything.

“I never said that it did. Besides, who says I have to kiss you? Why don’t you kiss me?” Aaand there was that challenging tone Sora hadn’t heard in ages. Funny how easily they brought this side out in each other.

“Maybe I will!”

And how easily Sora was goaded into rising to that challenge.

He wasn’t sure how seriously this was going to turn out, what with how he’d reached out and grabbed Riku’s face, squeezing his cheeks so that his lips puckered out comically. Sora was sure the way he was frowning competitively didn’t make him all that appealing or romantic. How were they supposed to confirm their feelings with a kiss when they both looked like they were about to summon their weapons and fight each other instead.

He’d never really know, he supposed, because the moment he leaned in, they were interrupted.

“There you two are!” came Aqua’s voice from inside the tower. She sounded a bit out of breath, as if she’d climbed a number of stairs to reach that point. Which was funny, because all of their rooms were on the same level and Sora hadn’t climbed any stairs when he found that balcony.

Maybe the tower itself didn’t want them to be bothered? Too bad it didn’t work.

“Everyone’s in the kitchen wondering where you two—oh. Oh! Oh my stars, am I interrupting something?”

As imposing a figure as Master Aqua struck while in battle, the sight of her covering her reddening face, only peeking through her fingers to shoot them both an apologetic glance, before turning around so fast that she nearly tripped over her own feet took away every shred of that commanding aura. So much so that Sora wasn’t particularly ashamed when he responded.

“Yes.”

“Sora!”

“I’m so sorry!”

She seemed to not be able to look at the both of them when she turned her head towards them, her line of sight somewhere far off to their left.

“The rest of us, um… We’re all in the kitchen making desserts. To raise the spirits, that is…”

Sora wasn’t sure if she saw both of them nodding, but she seemed to take their silence as an answer nonetheless.

“Come join us when you’re done—I mean, when you’re ready!” Her voice trailed behind her as she ran off, back down the stairs Sora guessed. He turned back to Riku, just as Riku turned to him, and tried not to laugh at the way Riku’s face was still squished between his palms.

“Well that ruined the moment,” Sora laughed, finally pulling his hands away. They were caught before they reached his sides, and the smile slowly slid away as he watched Riku curiously.

“Who said we had to stop?” he asked, looking down as he spoke. He only met Sora’s eyes after a moment of stunned silence. Somehow, despite how disastrous their first attempt was, everything was starting to fall into place. He was glad they’d been interrupted before they actually got anywhere. It wouldn’t have meant as much if neither of them were taking it seriously.

Here and now though, with the silly atmosphere cleared away and the gravity of their confessions closing in, Riku’s words made it more than serious.

They made it special.

Nothing was going to stand in the way of this moment: not their competitive natures, not an interruption from their friends, and not even the apprehension of tomorrow’s fight.

So when he leaned in again and Riku met him halfway, everything else disappeared.

It wasn’t a particularly long or experienced kiss. Neither of them really knew what to do with themselves, and Sora was thankful Riku was still holding his hands because he’d have floundered with them otherwise. Sora was sure if Riku had leaned over any further he’d have lost his balance, having twisted to the side somewhat as he’d still been facing forward. And honestly, Sora was glad he leaned in first because if Riku hadn’t known which way to tilt his head, they’d have probably ended up mashing their noses together. But none of that mattered. It just…worked out. Perfectly, in fact.

It certainly felt perfect, the soft touch of Riku’s lips to his. A bit awkward and closed-mouthed on both their ends, sure, but the sparks were still there. As was the warm, fluttery feeling in Sora’s gut. The excitement that lit his entire being up, even when they both pulled away.

His eyes had fallen shut during the brief moment where their lips had met without him even noticing. And when he opened them to find sea-green staring back, shining almost with the same elation, it was like time had stopped.

It was just them.

It always had been when they were little, before Kairi came along and the other island kids started joining them during playtime. It was between them with every little moment on the beach, or sitting on the paopu tree. It was between them in every little competition of theirs. In every battle they fought, either against one another or side by side. During their Mark of Mastery, and even afterwards when they found what little time they could to communicate.

So maybe Sora wasn’t really a romantic, but he liked to think this moment was. Even after a serious talk and a little soul-bearing, they always fell back into that familiar and comforting routine. It was a little more now, no longer the platonic friendship they’d held for so long, but it was still just them.

At least, Sora had figured, up until the point when Riku’s eyes shifted to the side and he moved back, that it was just them.

“…Ventus?” he asked, his gaze still directed towards the archway as a look of utter confusion crossed his face. An expression Sora was sure he was mirroring as his brain struggled to process why Riku wasn’t looking at _him_ or saying _his_ name.

And then he glanced into the tower as well and found, to his bemusement, a pair of blue eyes and tufts of blond hair peeking out from the side of the archway.

Caught, Ven leaned out further to reveal a wide, toothy and oddly smug grin.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt too,” he chuckled. “Aqua said you guys were alone up here and I thought, well… Anyway, I’m glad I was right! It’s about time!”

Ven went back the way he came, laughing and shooting them a thumbs up as he left, and Sora had to wonder just how much of his life Ven had been experiencing during the time his heart was within Sora.

“You know what, maybe we should head to the kitchen now before anyone else comes looking for us,” Riku said with a grimace. Torn between being amused and feeling equally as irritated, Sora only nodded.

They both stood to do exactly that, just as a thought crossed Sora’s mind. He turned to face Riku then, sidestepping in front of him and placing a hand on his chest to stop him.

“What is it?”

Rising up until he was on his tiptoes, Sora took his opportunity to plant a kiss on Riku just one more time. It was a bit fuller, what with Riku’s mouth having been slightly open, and Sora’s lips parting automatically in response. He could taste it this time. Minty, like toothpaste—he must’ve been getting ready for bed as well, but not strong enough to be off-putting. And that feeling was back, like there was a current running through him.

It also confirmed what he'd hoped wouldn't be the case. He'd have to practically pop his head off to kiss Riku.

He pulled away with a bit of a pout.

“You got way taller than me. You’re gonna have to lean down if we’re gonna do this more.”

“Oh.” Riku didn’t seem to be all the way there with his response, his mouth still hanging open and his cheeks flushed again. “Okay.”

They’d have all the time in the world, Sora was sure. Even after all they’d been through, all the time they’d spent apart, all the times Riku had been out of reach, they’d ended up together in the end. And they would be tomorrow. And the next day, and the next.

Sora refused to believe otherwise.


End file.
